Milestones, anniversaries and occasions galore today. As is the case with every day (if you stop to look).
My milestone today is the celebratory gathering of my classmates all of whom graduated in 1970 from a small Catholic school in Southern California. I went to the 40th edition in 2010 and was pleasantly surprised by the joviality and camaraderie of the aging 'Thespians'. Highlight was seeing my HS sweetheart and getting caught up. It has been a long strange trip, thank you all.
Anniversary to celebrate is my year with a pacemaker. On this very day in 2014 the good, talented and compassionate staff at the University of Washington Medical Center (you don't rely think I would let a Cougar or Duck do it?) opened my heart, connected two wires (black and red they tell me) that attach to a self powered device that regulates my arrythmatic atria on the bottom end of the electrical spectrum. I can pretty much tell you with a high degree of accuracy what my resting heart rate is upon request. I keep meaning to send them a thank you note for the miraculous technological procedure they diagnosed and subsequently repaired. It has not been all rainbows and unicorns since, but the process continues and who knows, maybe one day I will get back to…
…Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, where today (right now) the 39th annual Ironman World Championships are playing out. As you may know I have some history in the lava fields. You might also know that I remain as committed as ever to reaching the hallowed proving grounds ceremoniously ruled by Madame Pele. I suppose I could quit and lower my expectations, do a 5K or Grand Fondo and call it good, but I cannot. Will not, rather.
All of the above is mere backstory, just annoying white noise, without the dynamics and rites of passage encountered along the way. This path, this story, the long and winding road, filled with potholes, pitfalls and perilousness proceeds.
This afternoon is the wake of one of the people with whom I shared many magical moments. It is milestone, anniversary and special occasion all tossed into the psychic blender. Emotions will run wildly ahead of the bull. Tears will fall like the good Northwest rain. Friendships will be rekindled, fears assuaged and hope restored.
Life goes on. It is, as several someones have said, our oyster. We can do with it whatever we want.
I want more good memories. The time to create them is on the half-shell of the now.
God grant us the serenity to boldly move closer to the light with joy, peace and love in our hearts so that a year from today we may look back upon this place in time and space smiling with the powerful memories that our friends, classmates, teams, staffs, tribes and families have helped us create.
Amen and amen.
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